Courage

Today the Middle Level class I'm in worked with Youth Frontiers, a non-profit group operating in the Twin Cities that teaches middle schoolers important values such as honesty and courage. We spent 5 hours with over 170 7th grade students and tried to instill the value of Courage in them and make a real difference. To begin I was really nervous, I didn't know if I would be cabable of leading a small group or engage with the students (including being wild and crazy). I even began to question if I really wanted to teach students; Do I really care about kids and if not why do I want to teach. however, once they came through the door, to our thunderous applause, I was assured that I had made the right choice. These kids were excited, scared, hyperactive, tired, and confused and this diversity made it all worthwhile. I had the chance to show kids that it didn't matter to me wether the student body thought they were popular. I also was able to show them that being yourself is a cool thing to do.
Today we taught them courage, not in the face of scary animals or heights but in the face of peer pressure, bullying, and following the crowd. I suddenly had this intense urge to get across to these kids that its ok to be yourself. I saw many students in anguish becuase they were so scared of being laughed at. I also saw many other students ready to laugh at others to make themselves feel better. 7th graders need to know, and we do too, that you are not living your life if you give into this kind of fear. You are letting others run your life in your place. I wanted to shake these students from their slumber. You are missing out... on yourselves!!! This is why we need great teachers. Yes, we need to have competent knowledge dispensers, but it much more important to have a group of adults who care so deeply about the future of each individual student that they will stop at nothing to teach them about being real, having courage, being virtuous, having opinions, and being passionate about.... something!!!

Thank you youth frontiers for teaching me about coruage, but more so for showing me why I should be a teacher.

This could make a great article if I wasn't so scatter brained.